AG-16 – THE GRANGE, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
Photo courtesy: Wikipedia.org
Photo courtesy : Grange cricket club.
Address : Portgower Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, EH4 1 HQ, Scotland.
Capacity : 5000
End Names: City End, Park End
Other sports : Tennis, Squash, Hockey
Formerly known as Raeburn Place; The Citylets Grange.
Founded in 1832, the Grange Cricket Club is one of Scotland’s leading cricket clubs. The picturesque ground is located in the Stockbridge area of central Edinburgh and regularly hosts Scotland’s international matches.
Cricket had been played in Scotland since at least from 1785, brought to the country by British soldiers. The Club’s first game was a gift of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, father of a team member who allowed them to use a field near his home, Grange House. The new club was the First in Scotland to have its own ground.
In 1872 it moved to its current location at Raeburn Place in the Stockbridge district and has hosted out of its pavilion since 1894. The pavilion cost £1,400 and was officially opened on 29 June 1895 by Lord Moncrieff. And W.G. Grace brought his Gloucestershire team to Grange to grace the occasion.
The pavilion was restored in 1998 at a cost of £450,000.
After the Scottish Cricket Union disbanded in 1884 The Grange Club assumed responsibility as the governing body of cricket in Scotland for a time and still holds considerable national influence.
The decorative scheme to the interior of the Pavilion is designed to complement the exterior. The Long Room is modeled on the MCC ‘s “Long Room” at Lord’s Cricket Ground, London.
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The first game took place in 1872, a grand match between Edinburgh and Glasgow and the pitch was well appreciated by the visiting team, Glasgow.
In 1882, the Scotland team stunned the visiting Australians, (a side which included Charles Bannerman, Giffen, Mudroch) when they beat them with a considerable margin of 7 wickets.
The Grange has hosted numerous high profile international matches over the years featuring teams such as Australia,, Pakistan and England. Some of the world’s finest cricketers have played at The Grange, from W.G. Grace in 1895 and Don Bradman in 1948 to Brian Lara in 1995, Shane Warne and Andrew Flintoff. The ground has hosted Scotland’s home matches in ECB domestic cricket competitions.
The club has three-weekend league sides. The 1st XI play in the Cricket Scotland League Eastern Premiership. The 2nd XI play in the Championship Division and the 3rd XI in Division 3 of the East of Scotland League.
Over the years the club had its own ups and downs on the playing fields, though recently it had been highly successful.
In the 1990s the ground was recognised as Scotland’s premier cricket venue and many international matches were hosted here.
In 2003, Rahul Dravid of India playing for Scotland hit his second century of the season, carving an unbeaten 129 in 128 balls against Nottinghamshire in the National Cricket league – but Scotland still lost.
In 2005, Scotland signed a five-figure sponsorship deal with Citylets, an Edinburgh property-advertising firm, for the naming rights to The Grange ground in Edinburgh. It is an important year for Scottish cricket, as they try to qualify for the 2007 World Cup in West Indies through the ICC Trophy in Ireland during July.
The Grange hosted Scotland’s first official ODI outside of Cricket world cup on 27th June in 2006. A capacity crowd saw Scotland lose by five wickets to Pakistan. It was selected as a venue to host matches in the 2015 ICC World cup T20 Qualifier tournament.
This ground also hosted two One-day WORLD CUP matches in 1999 involving the Home team, Scotland, when they were beaten in both matches.
So far this ground hosted 21 ODI matches and out of this Scotland won 6 matches including an upset win against England in 2018 and it also hosted 13 T20Is and Scotland won 1 match.
And this year (2022) the club is going to celebrate its 150th year of its existence here at Portgower Place.
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